G.I. Joe Sky Patrol Input Drawings

It’s time for another blast from the (not so distant) past. In 2014/2015 I was fortunate enough to get the chance to work on product for my all time favorite brand, G.I. Joe, for the Official G.I. Joe Collectors Club. I did some design work on the 2016 International G.I. Joe Collectors Convention set. At the time I believed this was to be the last Joecon, but I at the show we all learned we would be getting another two years of shows.

The theme for the 2016 set was Sky Patrol (1990) with the addition of Air Commandos (1991/92). The Sky Patrol sub group was a team of 6 Joe paratroopers that came with real working parachutes and had chrome vehicles. Sky Patrol had some additional member in Brazil, and even two bad guys to liven up the line. Air Commandos came later on and included both heroes and villains with real working hang gliders.

When it came time to put the set together we got 6 pieces of tooling (5 heads and Skymates Boomerang). Here are the input/sculpt drawings that I drew for the new heads:

Static-Line was the other member of the original Sky Patrol to get a figure.

Sky Creeper was a Cobra Air Commandos operative and was the finale of the three figures to get new heads in the convention box set.

Input drawings for GIJCC Sky Patrol Skycreeper figure

This handsome devil is Cloudburst. He was originally a member of the Air Commandos and was available in 2016 as part of a convention souvenir add-on 2-pack.

His partner in crime, and the 2-Pack was Skymate. This international member of the Air commandos (he’s an Aussie), actually got a new head and boomerang accessories (but the inputs on that were pretty plain and not worth showing.

Input drawings for GIJCC Sky Patrol Skymate figure

At the time I drew these (2014/15) I thought I was really elevating my illustration game. Now just a few years later when I look at them I see work that is riddled with flaws, lines in the wrong places and I’m just not nearly as happy with these as I was at the time I drew them. Looking at them now I realized how much I’ve learned and improved since then, and it’s really kind of day and night. That being said I’m thrilled with the way that all of these figures turned out. The set itself came out great and is pretty close to what I envisioned it would be.

So I guess it good to keep focused on improving with every project and always pushing yourself to try something new.